Serie A and Hawk-Eye to boost “world’s most state-of-the-art” VAR replay centre

The Italian Serie A soccer league and Hawk-Eye, a Sony-owned company, will imminently inaugurate the “world’s most comprehensive state-of-the-art” VAR replay centre in Lissone (Milan), Italy.

This operation is part of a new partnership agreement, which covers a full three-year period starting with the 2021/2022 season. Hawk-Eye will provide multiple services, such as goal-line technology (GLT), video-assisted refereeing (VAR), VAR information system (VARdict), multi-angle replay systems (MARS) and electronic performance monitoring systems (EPTS), among others. These technologies will be applied to both broadcasting and refereeing. Many of these functions will be managed from a new VAR operations center, which will have the capacity for 12 VORs (video operations rooms) that will house a total of 60 technicians on match days.

Specifically, Hawk-Eye will dedicate 40 full-time employees and more than 160 freelancers to provide the services. Beyond the previously mentioned technologies, the A Series will implement a new player tracking solution from Hawk-Eye, a proprietary optical tracking system that uses advanced image processing and player recognition techniques to instantly and accurately determine the movements of players, referees and the match ball, covering up to 29 skeletal tracking points for each individual. This solution will enable teams to analyze the performance of each of their players.

Both the league and its clubs and broadcasters (DAZN and Sky Sports Italia) will also be provided with various graphical products such as Hawk-Eye’s virtual reenactment solution, which will virtually recreate the match action in real time for a new form of fan engagement and analytical content.

Additional Hawk-Eye services

Hawk-Eye’s new VARdict service, Hawk-Eye’s graphics and data reporting system, will enable broadcasters to convey in detail to fans what a VAR decision looks like. Furthermore, by using Sony Ci streaming services (a service provided through Hawk-Eye, which is part of the Sony family), Lega Serie A will be able to offer its clubs and stakeholders the ability to produce their own content for club channels and social networks based on MARS results.

Peter Irwin, Hawk-Eye’s commercial director for the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, says the company is delighted to “extend and enhance” the partnership with Lega Serie A. He also stresses that “data is becoming an extremely valuable component within football” and believes that “our systems will bring substantial value to Lega Serie A, its clubs, and stakeholders worldwide, whilst continuing to ensure that the league receives the highest standard of officiating technology possible.”

On the other hand, Luigi De Siervo, CEO of Lega Serie A, comments that “thanks to Hawk-Eye’s technological innovations and the potential offered by the new production centre in Lissone, Lega Serie A continues to grow into a Media Company capable of creating content independently. In addition, it increases the possibility of providing an always more advanced product for our partners, for the Clubs and for all the fans”.